Translation of universal plug and play search criteria

Abstract

A method, apparatus and system for parsing a UPnP search criteria and creating a search criteria structure that is understandable to any content provider/storage device include an apparatus for dividing a universal plug and play search criteria into elements, assigning at least one element a designation and providing information regarding the assigned designation and an order of the at least one element within the universal plug and play search criteria, the information to be used for searching content. The apparatus of the invention creates a list of structures for performing a search, each structure including a designation of at least one respective element and an order of the at least one respective element within the universal plug and play search criteria.

1 . A method, comprising:
 dividing a universal plug and play search criteria into elements;   assigning at least one element a designation; and   providing information regarding the assigned designation and an order of the at least one element within the universal plug and play search criteria, the information to be used for searching content.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising comparing each element to a list of keywords that defines correct universal plug and play search usage to ensure that each element comprises a proper search term. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising creating a list of structures for performing a search, each structure including the designation of at least one respective element and an order of the at least one respective element within the universal plug and play search criteria. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein assigning each element a designation comprises encapsulating the at least one element in quotes such that the at least one element is identified as a literal element in a search. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein assigning each element a designation comprises defining the at least one element as at least one a logOp, relOp, and StringOp of the at least one element as defined in the Service Template Version 1.01 document of the UPnP forum. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein assigning each element a designation comprises defining the at least one element as an element name as defined in the Service Template Version 1.01 document of the UPnP forum. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein said element name comprises at least one of upnp:actor and dc:title as defined in the Service Template Version 1.01 document of the UPnP forum. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising searching content using the assigned designation and an order of the at least one element within the universal plug and play search criteria. 
     
     
         9 . An apparatus comprising:
 a memory for storing program routines and data; and   a processor for executing said program routines, said processor, when executing said program routines, configured to perform the steps of:
 dividing a universal plug and play search criteria into elements; 
 assigning at least one element a designation; and 
 providing information regarding the assigned designation and an order of the at least one element within the universal plug and play search criteria, the information to be used for searching content. 
   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein said apparatus creates a list of structures for performing a search, each structure including the designation of at least one respective element and an order of the at least one respective element within the universal plug and play search criteria. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein said structure is used in a content storage device for searching content. 
     
     
         12 . An apparatus comprising:
 a content storage device for storing content, wherein said content storage device receives information regarding an assigned designation and an order of at least one element within a universal plug and play search criteria and uses the information to search the stored content.   
     
     
         13 . A system for searching for content, comprising:
 at least two content storage devices for storing content; and   a tokenizer including a memory for storing program routines and data and a processor for executing said program routines, said processor, when executing said program routines, configured to perform the steps of:   dividing a universal plug and play search criteria into elements;   assigning at least one element a designation; and   providing information regarding the assigned designation and an order of the at least one element within the universal plug and play search criteria to the at least two content storage devices, the information to be used for searching content.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein, by the dividing and assigning steps, said tokenizer generalizes said universal plug and play search criteria such that any of said at least two content storage devices can understand and process a search initiated by said divided and designated universal plug and play search criteria. 
     
     
         15 . Computer-readable storage medium having a program recorded thereon; where the program enables the computer to execute the steps of:
 dividing a universal plug and play search criteria into elements;   assigning at least one element a designation; and   providing information regarding the assigned designation and an order of the at least one element within the universal plug and play search criteria, the information to be used for searching content.